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Saturday, 18 April 2015

Assisted Suicide – In the face of two major threats the price of freedom is eternal vigilance

Lord Falconer's Assisted
Dying Bill sought to legalise assisted suicide (but not euthanasia) for
mentally competent adults (aged over 18) with less than six months to live,
subject to 'safeguards' under a two doctors' signature model similar to the
Abortion Act 1967.

The Bill had an unopposed
second reading in the House of Lords on 18 July 2014 and Committee stage
debates took place on 7 November and 16 January 2015. Over 175 amendments were
tabled and three votes held. Lord Pannick’s amendment (to delegate the final
decision in any specific case to the courts) was ‘accepted’ and attempts to
change the bill’s wording throughout from ‘assisted dying’ to ‘assisted
suicide’ and to require two doctors to carry out examinations were defeated by 179-106 and 119-61
respectively.

The bill has now fallen with the approach of the general
election on 7 May and will not enter the House of Commons in this parliament.
However it is expected to be reintroduced, possibly in the Commons, later this
year. Its progress then will depend very much on the post-election composition
of parliament.

It is clear that the mood of the House of Lords is now
sympathetic to Falconer but the lower house is another matter altogether. Both
Prime Minister David Cameron and Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg remain
opposed to it although Labour leader Ed Miliband is neutral.

There are excellent reviews of
the debate and analyses of the deficiencies of the Bill on the Care Not Killing
website.

Patrick Harvie’s ‘Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill’, however, remains very much alive in the
Scottish Parliament. The MSP (pictured above) took over the bill following the death of Margo Macdonald MSP in
April 2014. It proposes an ‘Oregon type system’ with trained ‘licensed facilitators’ but with a
wide scope for mentally competent adults (>16) with a ‘terminal or
life-shortening illness’ or a ‘progressive and terminal or life-shortening
condition’ who have concluded that the ‘quality of their life is unacceptable’.

The bill has even more holes than Falconer’s including relativistic
definitions, poor reporting provisions, minimal penalties, a ‘saving’ clause protecting doctors acting
in ‘good faith’, no specification of ‘means’ of suicide and the absence of a
conscience clause.

Oral evidence
sessions took place in January and February this year and a first stage debate considering the
general principles of the bill must take place in the Scottish parliament
before 28 May. Scottish First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has already signalled that she will not support
the bill and over 15,000 Scottish people have signed
a petition against it.

The voices of
Scottish Christian doctors and lawyers will be particularly crucial in the lead
up to this first stage debate, where we hope the bill will be soundly defeated.
Again, there are many resources available about the bill on the CNK
Website.

We need to speak out
for those voiceless vulnerable people who will be exploited and abused by this ill-conceived
draft legislation (Proverbs 31:8,9).

Winston the patient refusing a liver transplant may die of a natural cause (liver disease). They are not asking anyone else to deliberately shorten their life by killing them. Nor are they giving a license to kill to Drs or others.

What's wrong, Peter? Why'd you delete my comment? Are you afraid of a open and fair discussion where both sides have equal time?

In any rate, Watson, suicide is simply deciding that life isn't worth living any longer. If someone who needed a liver transplant decided to eschew it, they would be dead. Of course they could die during surgery, but the chance of survival would at least be more than 0%.

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Kiwi, Christian and Medical

This blog deals mainly with matters at the interface of Christianity and Medicine. But I do also diverge into other subjects - especially New Zealand, rugby, economics, developing world, politics and topics of general Christian and/or medical interest. The opinions expressed here are mine and may not necessarily reflect the views of my employer or anyone else associated with me.

About Me

I am CEO of Christian Medical Fellowship, a UK-based organisation with 4,500 UK doctors and 1,000 medical students as members. The opinions expressed here however are mine, and may not necessarily reflect the views of CMF or anyone else associated with me.